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Officers said they found Kyrian Gray, of Reserve, lying in a yard a few houses away from the party with a gunshot wound to the chest. Gray was a freshman at East St. John High School.

Gray was transported to River Parish Hospital, where he died, the sheriff's office said.

Deputies are concerned about the parish's growing murder rate. In less than five months, officers said they've seen 10 slayings, and most of them were traced back to a core group of young criminals.

Warren Sinceno's 18-year-old son was hosting the party for his cousin, and the word spread quickly across social media. Sinceno said it drew hundreds of teens and young adults to his home and neighborhood.

"I didn't know they were going to have that many people. I thought it was just going to be a nice little gathering. When I came home you had kids everywhere," Sinceno said.

The party had only begun an hour before Sinceno arrived home, but deputies were already on the scene doing crowd control after neighbors called with complaints. Sinceno said he immediately told deputies to break up the party.

Sinceno said he feels badly about what happened to the teen.

"Everybody came out here to have a nice little time, to get away, school is out, and then you have this kind of tragedy. It's disgusting really," said Sinceno.

Sheriff Michael Tregre said it's troubling to see the number of slayings in his parish reach a new level.

"We're solving cases, but we're not solving the problem," said Tregre.

The parish averages six murders a year, Tregre said. There were a total of 10 in 2012. By May 2013, the department is already working to solve a 10th murder.

"I don't know exactly what the answer is to stop this type of violence. I mean, all these murders I've had this year are all young black males all shot to death," Tregre said.

Tregre said deputies have seen distinctive patterns and trends with each murder.

"I have physical evidence that's starting to show me that a certain group of individuals in St. John Parish are responsible for the majority of the violent crime in St. John Parish," said Tregre.

Tregre said the majority of the slayings are not random and appear to be gang- or turf-related. He explained that young people from LaPlace don't like those from Reserve and vice versa.

"A lot of the cases we're working, the victim and the suspect knew each other and may have been related to each other in some of the cases," Tregre said.

The sheriff's department is working with state and federal officials to identify the young criminals and solve the crimes. Tregre said his department has created a special investigative unit, a street crimes unit and moved a number of deputies to night shifts to address the rise in violent crimes.

The sheriff added that deputies have taken 129 illegal guns off the street since 2012. Many were seized at crime scenes or traffic stops.

Anyone with information is asked to call the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office TIPS line at 985-359-TIPS or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.